Overcasting foot attachment for sewing machines

ABSTRACT

An improved overcasting presser foot attachment for a zigzag sewing machine comprising a body portion having a pair of forwardly extending upwardly curved arms separated by a narrow longitudinal slot and having a needle opening located at the rear of the narrow slot in communication therewith, and a guide and tongue member having a guide wall for guiding the raw edge of a piece of material to be stitched and an integral tongue member, said guide and tongue member being attached to the presser foot body portion so that the guide wall is disposed in the narrow longitudinal slot and the tongue member projects rearwardly beneath the needle opening so as to bisect the latter.

[451 Jan. 22, 1974 OVERCASTING FOOT ATTACHMENT FOR SEWING MACHINES [75] Inventor:

[73] Assignee: Brewer Sewing Supplies Company,

Chicago, Ill.

[22] Filed: Jan. 20, 1972 [21] Appl. No.: 219,448

Naoichi Nishi, Sanjo, Japan [52] U.S. C1. 112/235 [51] Int. Cl D05b 29/00 [58] Field 0t Search.... 112/150, 151, 235, 236, 240

[56 References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,140,753 5/1915 McNeil 112/151 2,178,184 10/1939 Mueller 112/235 2,186,885 1/1940 Shpater v 112/153 2,573,170 10/1951 Wiegandt 112/151 3,224,397 12/1965 Van Ness 112/235 3,420,197 1/1969 Jacobsen et a1. 112/235 3,512,490 5/1970 Wener 112/151 Primary ExaminerJ'ordan Franklin Assistant Examiner-Peter Nerbun Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Gary, Juettner, Pigott &

Cullinan [57] ABSTRACT An improved overcasting presser foot attachment for a zigzag sewing machine comprising a body portion having a pair of forwardly extending upwardly curved arms separated by a narrow longitudinal slot and having a needle opening located at the rear of the narrow slot in communication therewith, and a guide and tongue member having a guide wall for guiding the raw edge of a piece of material to be stitched and an integral tongue member, said guide and tongue member being attached to the presser foot body portion so that the guide wall is disposed in the narrow longitudinal slot and the tongue member projects rearwardly beneath the needle opening so as to bisect the latter.

2 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures OVERCASTING FOOT ATTACHMENT FOR SEWING MACHINES BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a presser foot attachment for a zigzag sewing machine and in particular to an overedge or overcasting presser foot. It is known in the art to use a conventional zigzag sewing machine for binding the raw edges of material, and to use in conjunction with such a sewing machine a presser foot to rest upon and slide over the raw material edge so as to press the material against a machine table or platform and thereby hold the material steady and guide the same during a stitching operation.

Conventional Overcasting presser feet of the foregoing type commonly include a plate or body portion with a generally flat undersurface which slides over the marginal edge of the material to be stitched so as to hold thematerial steady. A conventional overcasting presser foot also commonly includes a guide wall which bears against the raw material edge during a stitching operation to maintain proper orientation and alignment of the material. A further feature of such a known presser foot comprises a needle opening in the plate or body portion to accommodate the zigzag stitching action of the sewing machine needle, and a rearwardly projecting tongue which extends into the needle opening and terminates in a free end whereby stitching is drawn over the tongue by the back and forth action of the needle and the tongue serves to relax the tension in the stitching so that the stitched edge is free of curling or ridging. An Overcasting foot attachment of the foregoing type is more fully described in U. S. Pat. No. 3,512,490, issued to David L. Wener.

Overcasting foot attachments of the type mentioned above are commonly fabricated as a single integral component with the exception of a connecting element or shank which may be separately fabricated and pivotally secured to the presser foot member for connecting the latter with a presser or slide bar of a zigzag sewing machine. Such a presser foot can be relatively expensive to manufacture due to its complex shape which as described above includes a guide-wall for guiding the raw material and also a tongue member which extends into the needle opening to control the tension in the stitching. Moreover, practical design considerations limit the size and shape of the guide wall and the projecting tongue member where the same are integral with the basic plate or body portion of the presser foot attachment.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an improved design for an overcasting presser foot where abasic plate or body portion comprises one component which is of a simple shape and quite inexpensive to manufacture, and where a guide plate and projecting tongue member are integral with one another and comprise a separate component which is readily secured to the body portion after fabrication thereof.

The foregoing and other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description of a preferred embodiment thereof, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. I is a side elevational view, partly in section,

showing an Overcasting presser foot attachment constructed in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the presser foot of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a bottom plan view of the presser foot of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a detail top plan view of a guide and tongue member which forms a component of the presser foot of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is an end elevational view of the guide and tongue member of FIG. 4; and

FIG. 6 is a side elevational view of the guide and tongue member of FIG. 4.

Now, in order to acquaint those skilled in the art with the manner of making and using my invention, I shall describe, in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, a preferred embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Referring now to the drawings, there is shown a presser foot 10 comprising a body plate portion 12 formed with a pair of upstanding lugs 14 and 16 adjacent the rearward end of the body portion. The upstanding lugs 14 and 16 are spaced apart to receive therebetween the lower end 17 of a connecting element or shank 18. The shank 18 is connected to the body portion 12 by a pin 20 which extends through the shank and into the lugs 14 and 16 thereby permitting limited pivotal movement by the presser foot 10 relative to the shank. It will be understood that the upper end of the shank 18 is fixedly connected by any suitable means to a presser bar or slide bar (not shown) of a conventional zigzag sewing machine.

The body portion 12 has formed therein a needle opening 22, and it will be understood that a conventional needle bar (not shown) of a zigzag sewing machine carries a needle (not shown) which is movable in a typical zigzag path to draw stitching thread through a piece of material the edge of which is to be stitched. The needle opening 22 accommodates the zigzag movement of the needle, and there is shown in FIG. 1 a piece of material 24 which is held against a machine table or platform 26, such material being moved rearwardly beneath the presser foot 10 in the direction of the arrow during an overcast or overseam stitching operation for binding the raw edge of the material.

The body or plate portion 12 is formed with a substantially flat undersurface 28 and terminates at its rearward end in an upwardly inclined rear edge portion 30. The undersurface 28 is formed with an undercut area 32 immediately rearwardly of the needle opening 22 and of approximately the same width as the latter. A narrow longitudinal slot 34 is formed in the body or plate portion 12 forwardly of the needle opening 22. The longitudinal slot 34 extends from the needle opening 22 to a forward edge 36 of the body or plate portion 12, the slot 34 being in communication with the needle opening and being offset from the center of the latter.

The longitudinal slot 34 divides the forward end of the body or plate portion 12 into a pair of arms 38 and 40, and as shown in FIG. 1 such arms curve upwardly to provide an entrance area which facilitates entry of the material 24 beneath the presser foot 10 to initiate an overcast stitching operation. In the preferred embodiment described herein, the two arms 38 and 40 are of equal length and extend upwardly along the same curved path so as to provide a relatively simple configuration which lends itself to inexpensive manufacturing processes.

In combination with the above-described body or plate portion 12 of the presser foot 10, there is provided a guide and tongue member indicated generally at 42. The guide and tongue member 42 comprises a generally vertical guide plate 44, a generally horizontal tongue 46, and a generally horizontal mounting arm 48. In the particular embodiment shown, the guide and tongue member 42 is made from a piece of sheet metal which is bent to form the guide plate 44, tongue 46 and mounting arm 48 which are integral with one another. The member 42 is designed so that when combined with the body or plate member 12, the guide plate 44 is received within the longitudinal slot 34.

As clearly shown in FIG. 1, the upper edge of the guide plate 44 is approximately flush with the upper curved surface defined by the arms 38 and 40, whereas the guide plate projects downwardly below the undersurface of the arms 38 and 40 so as to present a projecting vertical wall which bears against the raw material edge during a stitching operation and serves to maintain proper alignment of the material 24 relative to the presser foot 10. The guide plate 44 extends rearwardly up to the forward edge of the needle opening 22 and forwardly slightly beyond the forward edge 36 of the body or plate portion 12.

The tongue 46 is disposed below the mounting arm 48 and projects rearwardly therefrom so as to bisect the needle opening 22 while leaving space on either side thereof to accommodate the zigzag movement of the needle (not shown) during a stitching operation. The tongue 46 projects rearwardly beyond the needle opening 22 so as to extend beneath the undercut area 32, and the tongue is disposed so as to be approximately flush with the flat undersurface 28 of the body or plate portion [2. It will be understood that there is provided a space between the tongue 46 and the undercut surface 32 to permit the passage of stitching loops. Thus, during a stitching operation as the needle goes through its usual zigzag motion stepping alternately between the divided sections of needle opening 22, the stitching thread (not shown) will be drawn laterally across the top surface of tongue 46 and the stitching loops will slip rearwardly off the end of the tongue thereby stitching the raw edge of the material 24 while the tongue controls the tension in the stitches. The mounting arm 48 of the guide and tongue member 42 extends laterally across the upper surface of the arm 40 and is anchored thereto by any suitable means such as a weld, screw or rivet, etc., there being shown for such purpose a screw member 50.

The overcasting presser foot of the present invention affords unique advantages over presser feet heretofore known due to the simplicity of its design and the simple and inexpensive means by which it can be manufactured. Apart from the conventional connecting element or shank 18, the foot comprises two basic components, the body or plate member 12 and the guide and tongue member 42 which are fabricated separately and then assembled in a very simple manner as indicated above. The body member 12 contains a needle opening 22 and a narrow longitudinal slot 34 which divides the forward portion of the body member into the two arms 38 and 40 which define a common curved surface thereby avoiding the complex configurations of conventional presser feet. The member 42 comprises a guide plate 44, a tongue 46 and a mounting arm 48 which are all integral with one another, the member 42 being readily fabricated separately from the body member 12 and being readily assembled therewith to provide a complete overcasting presser foot. Moreover, the size, relative location and configuration of the guide member 44 effect significantly improved guiding of the raw material edge during an overcast stitching operation so as to minimize irregularities in the finished edge and improve the efficiency of the presser foot of the present invention.

I claim:

1. An overedge presser foot for attachment to a zigzag sewing machine to effect an overedge or overcasting stitching operation, said presser foot comprising, in combination, plate means for overlying the marginal edge of material to be stitched, said plate means having a substantially flat undersurface portion,- a needle opening in said plate means, a narrow slot in said plate means extending from said needle opening to a forward edge of said plate means, said narrow slot serving to divide the forward portion of said plate means into a pair of rigid arms each of which curves upwardly along a common curved path to facilitate entry of said material therebeneath, a guide and tongue member having a generally vertical guide plate and a generally horizontal rearwardly projecting tongue formed from a single piece of material with said guide plate, said vertical guide plate comprising a thin, flexible member which is disposed in said narrow slot and is slightly thinner than the width of said slot said guide plate being supported laterally on its opposite sides by said pairs of rigid arms with the lower edge of said guide plate in approximately coplanar relation with said flat undersurface portion, a mounting arm formed of a single piece of material with said guide plate and said tongue, said mounting arm overlying a portion of said plate means, and securing means securing said mounting arm to said plate means thereby securing said guide and tongue member in assembly with said plate means with said guide plate disposed in said narrow slot and projecting downwardly beneath said rigid arms and said tongue projecting rearwardly beneath said needle opening in approximately bisecting relation therewith.

2. An overedge presser foot of the type defined in claim 1 where said single piece guide, tongue member and mounting arm are formed from a unitary piece of sheet metal of uniform thickness, said guide plate being bent into a substantially vertical plane, said tongue being bent into a substantially horizontal plane approximately coplanar with the lower edge of said guide plate, and said mounting arm comprises a generally flat plate which is bent into a substantially horizontal plane so as to extend laterally from the upper rear edge portion of said guide plate. 

1. An overedge presser foot for attachment to a zigzag sewing machine to effect an overedge or overcasting stitching operation, said presser foot comprising, in combination, plate meAns for overlying the marginal edge of material to be stitched, said plate means having a substantially flat undersurface portion, a needle opening in said plate means, a narrow slot in said plate means extending from said needle opening to a forward edge of said plate means, said narrow slot serving to divide the forward portion of said plate means into a pair of rigid arms each of which curves upwardly along a common curved path to facilitate entry of said material therebeneath, a guide and tongue member having a generally vertical guide plate and a generally horizontal rearwardly projecting tongue formed from a single piece of material with said guide plate, said vertical guide plate comprising a thin, flexible member which is disposed in said narrow slot and is slightly thinner than the width of said slot said guide plate being supported laterally on its opposite sides by said pairs of rigid arms with the lower edge of said guide plate in approximately coplanar relation with said flat undersurface portion, a mounting arm formed of a single piece of material with said guide plate and said tongue, said mounting arm overlying a portion of said plate means, and securing means securing said mounting arm to said plate means thereby securing said guide and tongue member in assembly with said plate means with said guide plate disposed in said narrow slot and projecting downwardly beneath said rigid arms and said tongue projecting rearwardly beneath said needle opening in approximately bisecting relation therewith.
 2. An overedge presser foot of the type defined in claim 1 where said single piece guide, tongue member and mounting arm are formed from a unitary piece of sheet metal of uniform thickness, said guide plate being bent into a substantially vertical plane, said tongue being bent into a substantially horizontal plane approximately coplanar with the lower edge of said guide plate, and said mounting arm comprises a generally flat plate which is bent into a substantially horizontal plane so as to extend laterally from the upper rear edge portion of said guide plate. 